Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce

This is my secret weapon for seriously fast midweek meals: My Authentic Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce. It takes minutes to make and can be stored in the fridge for weeks. It has plenty of flavour just used plain but also fantastic with extra flavourings added.

My Stir Fry Sauce is sensational used for both stir fries and stir fried noodles. This recipe is a keeper!

Restaurant Secret: you know when you go to a packed Asian restaurant or take out during lunch hour and you’re handed a plate of fresh-out-of-the-wok stir fry 5 minutes after ordering? I hate to disappoint you, but the cooks standing over the flames aren’t throwing together 10 ingredient sauce mixes for every single dish…….What they actually use are ready made sauces as a base, then add additional flavours for different dishes.

These all purpose stir fry sauces are closely guarded secrets of restaurants – you won’t uncover them simply by googling, that’s for sure! Today I’m sharing mine. I call him Charlie (as in Charlie Brown….as in “Brown Sauce”, which stir fry sauces are commonly referred to as). Perfected and tweaked over years, I’ve been loyal to Charlie for a decade (and counting).

The brilliant thing about Charlie is that you make him just by combining the ingredients in a jar, them just store him in the fridge where he’ll happily reside for weeks – months even. Then you simply heat some oil in a wok, throw in whatever proteins, vegetables and noodles you want, then throw Charlie in with some water and he’ll magically transform into a thick, glossy sauce that lusciously coats your stir fry. He’s great plain, but so versatile too – add heat, herbs, fruity sweetness or some tang. I’ve provided some of my favourite variations in the recipe below.

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Real Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce

Prep Time

2mins

Total Time

2mins

My secret weapon for mid week meals - an All Purposes Chinese Stir Fry Sauce, a versatile base that makes a wonderfully glossy sauce for any stir fry, including stir fried noodles. Store it in the fridge in a jar for when you need it - just make sure to leave sufficient headroom in the jar so you can give it a good shake before using. This makes 1 1/2 cups of sauce which is enough for around 12 servings.

1 - 2tspground white pepper(I sometimes use 1 tbsp, I like the spiciness!)

Instructions

Combine ingredients in a jar and shake to combine. Store in fridge and shake before use.

Amount to Use (Note 6):

Stir Fry: I use 3 tbsp Stir Fry Sauce + 6 tbsp water to make a stir frying for 2 people using around 5 cups of uncooked ingredients (proteins + vegetables).

Noodles: I use 3 tbsp of the Stir Fry sauce + 5 - 6 tbsp water to make a noodle stir fry for 2 people using around 7 cups of the combined stir fry uncooked (vegetables - packed, proteins + noodles - if using).

Add your choice of Base Flavourings - fry for 10 seconds or so to infuse oil.

Add stir fry ingredients in order of time to cook (starting with ingredients that take longest to cook), leaving leafy greens, like the leaves of bok choy, until when you add the sauce (otherwise they will wilt and overcook).

Gently toss to combine and to let the sauce cook for around 1 minute. The sauce will become a thick, glossy sauce that coats your stir fry.

Serve immediately.

Base Flavourings

Garlic, minced or finely sliced

Ginger, minced or finely sliced

Fresh chillies, minced or finely sliced

Additional Flavouring Suggestions

Sriracha, Chilli Bean Paste or other Spicy addition

Sweet chilli sauce

Substitute the water with pineapple or orange juice

Rice vinegar - for a touch of tartness

Fresh cilantro / coriander leaves, or thai basil - for freshness

Garlic or ordinary chives, chopped

Pinch of Chinese five spice powder

Recipe Notes

1. Light soy sauce is lighter in colour that the more common dark soy sauce, but it is actually saltier. The main reason for using light soy sauce in this recipe is so the colour is not as dark. So if you do not have light soy sauce, you can substitute it with normal soy sauce, but the sauce will be darker than it should be, and slightly less salty (but not very noticeable).

I use Lee Kum Kee brand for the light soy sauce and Kikkoman for the ordinary soy sauce. If you don't have all purpose soy sauce, just use more light soy sauce, and same if you don't have light soy sauce i.e. just use more all purpose.

2. If using dried rather than fresh noodles, add a few extra tablespoons of water. The reason for this is that dried noodles, even after cooking them (usually just by covering them in hot water in a bowl), absorb more liquids than fresh noodles. So you need more liquid to have a saucier finish.

3. To make this sauce vegan, substitute the oyster sauce with hoisin sauce. This gives the sauce a slight Chinese Five Spice Powder flavour which is thoroughly authentic!

4. This will last for weeks and weeks, depending on the expiry date of the ingredients you use. There is nothing in this that will go "off", so just check the expiry date of the ingredients you use in this, at use that as a guide. I usually use mine in about 4 weeks, but it will definitely last longer.

If you have it in the fridge for ages untouched, then you will need a butter knife or something to mix up the cornstarch that will settle and harden in the bottom of the jar.

5. Chinese Cooking Wine substitute - the cooking wine plays an important part in giving this sauce an extra depth of flavour that elevates it from "just a sauce" to a "real Chinese" sauce. However, for those who cannot have alcohol (and please remember, the alcohol cooks out in the stir fry so there is zero alcohol in the finished dish!), apple juice or grape juice is the best substitute. Otherwise, chicken broth/stock, as a second fall back, with 2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar + 1/2 tsp sugar.

IMPORTANT: If you sub the wine, then the shelf life of the sauce will be determined by the shelf life of what you use as the sub.

6. These quantities make stir fries that are nicely coated with sauce, but without pools of sauce. The stir fry is saucier than the noodles, so it soaks into the rice. With the noodles, the sauce clings to it really well so you don't need pools of sauce. If you want more sauce, increase the amount of Stir Fry Sauce used with double the amount of water e.g. If you add 1 tbsp Stir Fry Sauce, add 2 tbsp water.

7. Chinese wine is a key ingredient in this. Best next substitute is dry sherry, and after that Japanese cooking sake. If you are unable to consume alcohol, then leave it out and just use water instead. (Chicken broth would be a good sub but the shelf life is too short)

I need a bit of help, please. My apologies if I am putting this question in the wrong area, but if I have done, would some kind soul send it to where it should be. My question is this.Can Oyster Sauce be eaten by some one with a severe allergy to fish, shellfish and marine crustaceans?

This sauce is so good and authentic I feel I have my own Chinese restaurant. HAVE you ever eaten at the slanted door in San francisco? Many of their dishes use a wonderful garlic sauce with a touch of sugar. If you have eaten there, could you comment on how close it is your Charlie sauce? Anyway, thank you so much for your Charlie sauce!

Not sure if this will get to you but I came across your charlie sauce and changed a few things do to the fact that my wife has to be gluten free and corn free. Replaced soy sauce with a lighter tasting liquid Amino’s, replaced oyster sauce with a fish sauce, replaced corn starch with pistachio starch, and added the chicken stock instead of water. And she really enjoyed it. Thank you for pointing me in a direction on how I could make a sauce that would allow me to still eat some of my favorite foods and still be free of what my wife can’t eat. Oh and I use rice noodles instead of regular noodles.

Nutrition? Lol! This is THE best general purpose sauce for this type of comfort food that I have come across to date. You are right, trade secret info not many are willing to share! Thanks for setting a way point for my own experimentation!

Food culture trumps “nutrition” values every which way, especially since this particular culture is one of the healthiest on planet Earf. Let go of “nutrition” hullabaloo and take time to enjoy the culture that created the cuisine hundreds of years ago. Life is too short to haggle over useless nutritional figures.

Made this today Nagi and you’ve hit another one out of the park for 6 with it!

Seriously good and the kids loved it too. I made it completely straight up without additional flavours to see how it went. This was a great base and I can really see how you will be able to vary the flavour by additions. Next time I’m keen on adding some Chinese five spice with some duck or chook.

In the meantime I’ve got “Charlie” waiting in the fridge for next time!

We made this last night and it was SO good! We used vegetarian mushroom-based oyster sauce, but everything else the same.

I wanted to address one thing though – it is not true that there is zero alcohol in the finished dish. It is a common misconception that alcohol cooks off or evaporates completely. For dishes simmered for 15 minutes, approx. 40% of the alcohol remains, as found in the 1992 study “Alcohol Retention in Food Preparation” (Augustin et. al)

Hi Danielle, you are correct there is a residual about of alcohol left. I do think the 1992 study is a bit out of date (I have read that previously) because it does not take into account cooking things over high heat like this with a wide surface area, which subsequent studies have found drastically increases the alcohol cooked out. Regardless, the amount in each recipe per serving is very small, so I consider it to be immaterial. And I’m GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT!! N x

Question on rice wine – reason why I ask is I have tried very similar stir fry recipes but they all lacked a little something compared to restaurant taste. If I buy the Pagoda Chinese wine you showed the link to in your 10/2/17 comment, does that meet the “Chinese wine” ingredient for this recipe? Confusingly, the linked article says the pictured Pagoda wine is NOT cooking wine but rice wine made with sticky rice. So just wanted to make sure. Thanks.

Hi Nagi, I am a newbie and I love your web. I am a good cook and love to cook. I made Charlie and added Hoisen and Oyster sauce to it and love it. I made a large jar of it and it in my frig. I made noodles stir fry veg and shrimp. Also I made it with rice and it was fab. You are great!! Do u have a recipe for shrimp with lobster sauce?

Oh. My. Gosh. My local Chinese restaurant is going out of business now that I have this recipe! Made it yesterday – only modification was that I used half Hoisin and half Oyster sauce for that portion. The stir fry turned out AMAZING and was even better today, carmelized even more in a pan for lunch. Thank you so much for this recipe!

By chance, do you have a recipe for a white sauce? If you create one, I vote for naming it Barry.

This my favorite site but needing clarification! I was taught to not use ‘cooking wines’ if recipe calls for ‘Chinese wine’ or ‘rice wine’. Shaoxing is a common Chinese rice wine, but was told not to be confused with the cooking wine of same name as it is saltier. To clarify, do you use the cooking wine? And if so, can that be assumed for all your recipes calling for rice wine, unless otherwise noted? Thank you in advance. I just want to make sure I’m making recipes like you! 😄

Thank you!! I am in Portland, Oregon. We have many Asian grocers but none seem to sell the ‘wine’. Liquor stores don’t even have sherry here😳 Grocers only carry the dark sherry. Going today to a Korean grocer to hopefully find gochujang for your beef stir fry😄
Any links would be appreciated. Thank you so much.

Hi Nagi,
I’m sooo glad I stumbled upon this post! I love your recipes as they always turn out so well 👍

I was reading something the other day about onion, carrot and celery being the “holy trinity” of French and Italian cooking aka a simple flavour base for many recipes…..and wondered if there was a similar concept in Chinese cooking……

And guess what I stumbled upon – your charlie sauce! I make stir fry dishes often, so this is a great help!

This sauce is amazing! I planned to make a stir fry to clean out all of the leftover veggies, and was looking for a good all purpose sauce. I used only 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, and 1/4 cup light soy and 1/4 cup dark, as it’s what I had. Delicious!!!